We begin with Lois and Clark discussing her White Snake pillow while moving into the new apartment. They are interrupted by Tess that Slade has returned from the Phantom Zone in a coma. Using some tech babble Clark and Tess figure away into the Zone to see what is going on. Ollie volunteers, but Clark refuses. Clark goes to the Phantom Zone with Ollie right behind him. They encounter a phantom and taken to Zod.

Zod sits on a throne made of bones and says he ran into the phantom zone Zod from Season 5 and 6. They had tea and decided to join together, so we have Zod from Superman II or at least we are lead to believe that. Zod encountered Darkseid who decided he would rather rule in the hell of the Phantom Zone then become one of Darkseid zombies which kinda sort makes sense not really when it comes to those two characters. Zod is now running a Mortal Kombat kingdom, because there is really nothing else to do in the Phantom Zone.

Lois goes to Tess to see if they can get them out and realizes there is a countdown to destroy the way out of the zone. She pulls a gun and Tess to tell her to turn it off. Zod talks to Ollie about wanting a brother and he knows Ollie has the darkness him or at least implies that. Zod looking for a brother, so much for Superman II Zod. Ollie and Clark duke it out and Ollie stabs Clark. Zod wants the final kill. He goes to behead Clark only for Clark and Ollie to stop him and take a magic amulet that is letting out the phantom zone prisoners. We see Zod and others in the spinning crystal from the Superman movie and it looks like it explodes.

Clark returns to Lois and we find out its 3 months later and two days from the wedding. Lois waited for him and believes in him. Ollie is going after the Bow of Orion that Hawkman mentioned. Using the Veratos books he is able to narrow it down. He goes to a church and we flashback to him beating up Desaad. He goes to an angel statue and something black comes out of it. Don't blink, Ollie.

In summation, we got a little more about the darkness storyline, but it was designed to give Callum Bloom the spotlight one more time. In it, he kinda reminds us why his Zod was just ok. If he did combine with the Zod we know and love, he should have been more commanding and zero caring about wanting a brother. They basically ripped off 300 and gave no preview for next week. I did have a problem with Ollie saying they got rid of the three Darkseid henchmen when all I remember them burying Dessad. What happened to Granny Goodness and Galifrey? I also don't buy the math equation that Darkseid >Zod, but Clark > Darkseid.

I liked the episode a lot.Maybe because it actually had some action that made sense in that twisted Smallville way.Or maybe it was because they finally remembered there's that Omega thing on people's skulls and that evil Darkseid lurking to take over.

I'm staying away from previews and spoilers from now on.(I only know about one certain well published return for the final show)but I'm happy they got back on track as far as mentioning the big bad evil and what's gonna happen.

A few things happened last week that I think are instructive to understanding television ratings. First, because of the President's break into tv last Monday, ABC aired The Big Bang Theory after Two And A Half Men.